


Terrible Room Designs

by alltoseek



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: HGTV!AU, M/M, Picspam, egt!HGTV!AU, pics for fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-25 01:03:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3790798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alltoseek/pseuds/alltoseek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pictures of some of the room designs from contestants on <i>Next Big Thing</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Coffee Shops

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pureimaginatrix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pureimaginatrix/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Next Big Thing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3349583) by [earlgreytea68](https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgreytea68/pseuds/earlgreytea68). 



> In earlgreytea68's HGTV!AU fic "Next Big Thing", Arthur describes many of the contestant's room designs in less than flattering tones. pureimaginatrix commented with a ref to the blog [Terrible Real Estate Agent Photos](http://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com/); and I got this idea of attempting to "illustrate" the room designs in the fic using images from that blog.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Design a coffee shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The coffee shops are described in chapter 12 of NBT.

The first challenge for the Next Big Thing contestants was to design a coffee shop.

The first room looked like a hospital. It had hospital gurneys for seating:  


When Arthur saw the other minimalist, streamlined rooms, designed to evoke the "sterility of modern life", this was pretty much what they looked like to him:  
  
  
  
  


One coffee shop had the chairs set up in a big circle so that customers have to share armrests and table space and thus are forced to talk to each other:  


Another was "coffee-shop-as-modern-government", with tall stools:  


Next was "coffee-shop-as-cocktail-party", with no chairs and few tables:  


Finally they came to a design Arthur liked, which was filled with comfortable armchairs. This pic is not of the completed room, but the delivery of all the armchairs Ariadne had requested:  
  


Misty Rainbow's design was not described by name, but I believe she may have taken the "hospital gurney" shop's evocation of "moving closer to death" to the next level:  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We don't learn the names of the other contestants (besides Ariadne aka GPS) until the mentoring of the closet design. If anyone has any guesses as which designs might have been whose I'd love to hear them! :D


	2. Micro-apartments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second challenge: Design a fully-functioning micro-apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The micro-apartment rooms are described in chapters 22 - 25 of NBT.

The second challenge was to design a micro-flat (or apartment, if you cannot rely upon your accent should all else fail).

Some contestants tried to win Arthur over by incorporating a lot of soft fabrics and comfy spaces, but they ended up feeling claustrophobic and over-textured:  


Other designs were in the sleek modern style previously favored. However, contestants were struggling to fit everything in the limited space:  


Designs that fit everything in were occasionally somewhat awkward.  
  


In Arthur's opinion the worst ones involved placing the toilet in the kitchen area,  
  


the worst of all having it next to the fridge:  
  
The contestant said that "the opening of the refrigerator door could provide enough privacy." Arthur's response was, "Privacy? I’m worrying about _bacteria_."

One successful effort in creating an appealing room avoided the issue by (unfortunately) omitting the bathroom altogether:  


One popular design had a black-and-white chessboard theme. Here is an image of it during initial stages of construction. In the background another contestant, borrowing the “game” idea, is attempting to include a pool table in a micro-apartment:  


Ariadne used a mirror to reflect the the sleeping loft's staircase in a reference to Escher's paradoxes:  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We don't learn the names of the other contestants (besides Ariadne aka GPS) until the mentoring of the closet design. If anyone has any guesses as which designs might have been whose I'd love to hear them! :D


	3. Bedrooms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Challenge three: Design a bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bedrooms are described in chapter 34 of NBT.

The first “bedroom” lack a visible bed:  
  
(Turns the floor itself was the “bed”.)

The next had a kind of “circus bordello” look going on:  


But many had the familiar minimalist sharp-edged look. Sometimes far too stark for Arthur's taste:  


On the other hand, one went too far in the luxurious rococo direction:  


An early version of Ariadne's woodland-glen themed bedroom include an actual moss “carpet”:  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We don't learn the names of the other contestants (besides Ariadne aka GPS) until the mentoring of the closet design. If anyone has any guesses as which designs might have been whose I'd love to hear them! :D


	4. Closets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mentoring challenge: Design a closet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The closet designs are described from initial phases to finished rooms in chapters 40 - 43 of NBT.

For the closet challenge each judge was assigned three contestants to mentor. Here are some looks at the early stages of the designs.

Trizz's theme eventually resolved into torture chamber chic:  


Misty's design was initially a stark white. After her first session with her mentor, Arthur, she decided to do some additional painting:  


Jevin had decided upon a prison theme, but took some time working out the specific details:  


Jess connected with death as a theme, and made a lovely start with this sarcophagus:   


Here we see the bare bones of Ariadne's maze closet:  



	5. Secret Rooms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Design a secret hideaway room. The purpose or type of secret room that you design is entirely your choice. "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The secret rooms are described in chapter 54 of NBT.

There might not have been a bed in Trizz's sex lair, but what furniture there was knew what get up to in that room:  


Sunny in her panic room, not panicking. Sulking a bit, maybe, but not panicking.  


Someone got caught secretly enjoying Jess's secret party room:  


Scott's clean library, echo-y, uninviting library:  


Jevin's safe was entirely empty. The secret entrance was also a bit of a challenge.  


This terrible pic of Ariadne's indulgence room managed to capture only the ceiling of tufted white leather and the pale purple of the walls.  


Gon's luxurious bathroom was indeed a thing of beauty:  


Here's an in-progress pic of Gon's "secret" bathroom:  
  
It shows the spacious shower Eames loves, and gives a hint of some of the intricate mosaics that Gon has incorporated. (The toilet happens to be sitting there while work is being done in its ultimate location).


	6. Living Rooms for Open House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Stage a living room for an open house."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The living rooms for showing are described in chapters 69 through 73 of NBT.

The inspiration for Misty Rainbow’s infamous show room:  


An early version of her mirrored living room:  
  
(Clearly this did not have enough mirrors yet, so Misty got to work adding more. _Everywhere_.)

 

An early stage of Trizz’s decadent black and red room:  


 

Gon was proud of his sleek and uncluttered room, but decided it needed some pizazz and later added a wallpaper with a metallic geometric pattern:  


 

Ariadne tried some out-of-the-box thinking in her cream and gray open house room by adding a bit of subliminal messaging:  
  
(Mal said “No.”)

 

Sunny started her design process with the well-known designer maxim: “Prospective buyers don’t want realistic livable rooms. Abstract expressionism is what sells houses.”  


However, by this point she knew Arthur would require some softness to alleviate the starkness. Sunny's original plan to soften her sharp-edged white room was to include a friendly dog:  
  
Mal said “No.”

Which made Sunny rather sad and angry. This was her next version:  
  
(“Inhabitants are allowed one phone call.”)

The next day she relented a bit and decided to open up the walls, but there was still a foreboding air. Possibly from the vertical-bar look of the windows:  
  
Or perhaps it was from Trizz's sneakily flipping the bird. 

The photographer fell over laughing:  


Ultimately she did manage to put together a room, pictured here while the house-hunters were viewing:  


 

Jess decided on a carnival theme for her room. She requested all the stuffed animals that could be obtained:  
  


She choose a bright, wild color scheme:  


Finally, in the interior she placed fun items like games and bongo drums:  


 

Scott stuck with a very simple look:  


The crew reminded him he had plenty of space to work with for this challenge, so he modified his design:  



	7. Outdoor Living Rooms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Design an outdoor living room."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The outdoor rooms are described in chapters 107 – 111 of NBT.

The plot Trizz was provided:  


He made an attmpt to tame it:  
  
but ultimately decided to simply set the whole thing on fire.

 

Gon's room, after the wind had blown sparks from Trizz's fires onto it:  


 

A portion of Ariadne's “river hallway”:  


 

What Misty was doing in the trailer after Alec's asinine comment:  


 

Sunny's plot before designing:  
  
which might have been the inspiration for the purples and pinks in her completed room.

Sunny was going to use wooden chairs to complement the wooden trellis, before deciding to switch to white wicker:  


 

Scott's room was originally a busy assemblage of all sorts of garden devices:  


He later decided to move all the vertical spaces and hanging items into one wall. This photo managed to capture all of Scott's room except the most interesting part:  


 

Misty's room was mostly water features and grass, with an ominous undertone:  


 

That evening, the contestants had a party to relieve the tension from the day's eventful judging. Naturally they went to Ariadne's “hop **scotch** ” room (Gon's having burnt down already). This photo was taken the morning after the party:  



	8. Painted Rooms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Paint a room.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The painted rooms are described in chapter 133 of NBT.

Scott's first idea was to invent a more interesting paint:  
  
(suddenly the conventional taupe stripes make so much sense.)

Sunny's inspiration for her (permanently) white-and-green giftwrapped room: the sad remnants of a long-ago party:  


A portion of Misty's delightfully painted room:  


Ariadne started adding a mosaic to her dove-grey room, but when supplies of the bits of colored glass and mirrors she'd requested were slow in coming, she took matters into her own hands. Or possibly hammer, we hope:  


Gon struggled with this challenge. At one point he got all Jackson Pollock with the paint cans:  



	9. Bonus Chapter: Eames' and Arthur's Home Photos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Purely speculative images of Eames' and Arthur's current and previous homes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry. I have no excuse.

During the viewing party, we learn that there is “an ancient, damp, gross basement” in Arthur's and Eames' house (chapter 81). Eames considered turning it into a “secret party room” that they could send Alec down to:  


Or possibly Eames is keeping his pet pig down there. Arthur doesn't know about the pig, but Eames is carefully planting, inception-like, the idea of having one into Arthur's mind, as when Eames says, “If this is about how you’d rather have a pet pig, I am not against that.” (chapter 131)  


Except that it is too small, we don't get a description of Eames' old place. Here are a couple of possible ideas what it may have looked like:  
  
(unfortunately, that handsome young man is not Eames or Arthur, but we can kinda squint and pretend, right? :-)

  
This must be during the renovation of their new home, as some of Arthur's clothes can be seen neatly hung up in each photo.

Arthur's previous place:  
  
It could use an Eamesian touch, n'est-ce pas?  
(yes, we're still squinting to pretend that is Arthur in the bed ;-)

The closet in Arthur's previous home:  
  
Yes, he takes his closets seriously. Pay attention, Misty.


End file.
